2 Kings chapter 7, and we're going
to look at the first 11 verses. Now we'll preface this with the Syrians are camped around
about The Jews are way outnumbered and they're just kind of waiting
for the inevitable thing to happen. This is where the story picks
up. And they're starving, there's no food, it's just really difficult. We start in 2 Kings 7, verse
1, Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord, Tomorrow, about this time, shall a measure of fine
flour be sold for a shekel. and two measures of barley for
a shekel in the gate of Samaria." In other words, it's going to
be abundance. It's going to be opposite of
what they're experiencing right now. Then a lord, on whose hand
the king leaned, answered the man of God and said, Behold,
if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?
And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine own eyes, but
shalt not eat thereof. It's going to happen. The Lord
spoke to Elisha and told him it was going to happen. Now our
main story. And there were four leprous men
at the entering in of the gate. And they said one to another,
why sit we here until we die? There's four Jewish men that
have leprosy. They're in the siege as well as everybody in
Samaria. These four men, they said, why
are we sitting here? We're going to die one way or
the other. If we say we went to the city, then the famine
is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here,
still here, we're going to die of our disease. Now, therefore,
come, let us fall into the host of the Syrians. And if they save
us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but
die." Pretty desperate situation for everybody in Samaria. And they arose in the twilight
to go unto the camp of the Syrians, which were obviously encamped
besiege the city, and when they were come to the uttermost part
of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the
Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots,
and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host. And they
said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against
us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians
to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled
in the twilight, and left their tents, their horses, their asses,
even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when
these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into
one tent and did eat and drink and carried thence silver and
gold and raiment and went and hid it, and came again and entered
into another tent and carried thence also. and went and hid
it. Then they said one to another,
we do not well. This day is a day of good tidings,
and we hold our peace. If we tarry to the morning light,
some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore come that we
may go and tell the king's household. So they came and called unto
the porter of the city, They told them, saying, We came to
the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there,
neither voice of man, but horses tied, asses tied, and the tents
were as they were. And he called the porters, and
they towed it to the king's house within." Now, as is always the
case in this Old Testament that we're looking at, it is just
a picture, type, or whatever, a symbol of the grace of God
found here this morning. I've entitled this message, God's
Method of Grace. This is how God saves sinners,
how he does it. We see how God can be just and
justify the unclean, the leprous, the vile, and I want us to look
intently at this wonderful lesson in the mercy and grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the first thing that we
see is in verse 3, there were four leprous men at the entering
of the gate and they said one to another, why sit we here until
we die? Why sit we here until we die? Now, obviously, leprosy is a
picture in the Scriptures of natural man, born in sin, and
doesn't seek God, doesn't want to know God, doesn't care to
know God. I like this, this reminds me of Luke chapter 15, the prodigal. You think about it, it kind of
reminds you of the prodigal. The prodigal, he's given me my inheritance,
took it, he went into a far country, and spent, and spent, and now
he's got nothing. And he's sitting there and he's
messing with the pigs. I said, well, you get a job there.
He asked for compassion. Nobody had compassion. Didn't
have any money. He almost said the same words.
Why sit I here when in my father's house even the servants are better
off than I am? These lepers, there's death near. Because they said in verse 4,
if we say we'll enter into the city Samaria, they're talking
about, and the famine is in the city, there's no food outside
the gate. Because you remember, that's
where lepers were supposed to be, outside the camp, outside
the gate. They could not go into where
there were people. So they said, well, if we stay
here in the city, we're going to die here. So if we stay here,
there's death near. And if we go away, there's death
afar. Same thing. Verse 4, we die also. If we stay here, we die. Come
and let us fall in the hands of the Syrians. If they save
us, that's fine. But if they kill us, they kill
us. So there's death staying where they're at, and there's
death going, as far as they know, going somewhere else. So too,
if we sit here today, if all's we have, is the mere form of
religion. It's all that we have is just
the mere outlines of doctrine. And you've seen it and I've seen
it. There are people who sit under the gospel, THE gospel,
and they just sit there. They don't do anything. They
just sit. They come in, they may be friendly, which we hope
so, but there's no life. There's death in the pot. There's
no life. We're like these lepers. So if
we sit here today in a state of total ruin and total depravity
and total corruptions to which we are born, we shall die. That's
what they said. Why sit we here until we die? If they stayed in the city besieged
by the Syrian army, they would die of starvation or they would
die of their own natural disease. They would die from no food,
no hope, no life. Or they would die from The spiritual
death. Same with us. Spiritual death.
The Lord does not stir us up. Our spiritual disease, unclean.
Unclean. That's what the leper... You
can look at this in Leviticus 13 and 14 and see the various
laws and responsibilities of the priests and the leper. They
had to go outside the camp. They couldn't talk to anybody.
And they had to put a little cloth over their mouth. Over
the upper lip, it said. and say unclean. So they're walking
and somebody leaves the city and they're walking and they're
walking towards you. Unclean! You had to acknowledge
it. I'm unclean. So that's what the situation
is here. There's no hope, no hope from within us, no hope
from without us, from our own goodness, our own religiousness.
There's no hope without the blood. And that's the problem with natural
man. He's content to just sit there in his own ruin. Even amongst where the gospel
is preached. Why do you preach the gospel?
Years and years and all of a sudden somebody hears it. Why does somebody
say, why am I sitting here until I die? That's what I ask myself. That's what I ask you. Will you
sit here until you die? But I say this, let God get a
hold of the sinner like the prodigal. Oh, it was
his own free will. He mustered up. No. It says he
came to his senses. That's sovereign Holy Spirit
conviction. That's the sovereign enabling.
That's Psalms 110 verse 3. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. So I encourage you, don't sit and like that woman with the
issue of blood, she grew worse. She's trying everything, she's
everything, physicians, doctors, vitamins, whatever you want to
say, she's trying everything to get better except for the
remedy, the person of Christ. But look at with me in verse
5, so here they say, why sit we here till we die? They rose
up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians, and when
they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Assyria,
behold, there was no man." Second point, what a good sight that
must have been. They're starving to death. They're
going to die. The Lord pricks their conscience
as spiritually would prick your conscience, my conscience through
the preaching of the gospel. And we're not content to just
sit in our sins. We get up and we go and we behold one of the
most beautiful, to them, I have been in war. I really can't say
I've been famished. They go, they leave. And they
come to the site, they're expecting, who knows? Life or death. And there's no man there. That's significant. There's no
man there. So there's no man there. So there's
no man there to condemn them. They're lepers. There's no man
in the camp to condemn them. There's no one to hinder their
coming into the camp. And the only hindrance that we
have is our sin. Christ says, look and live. Come unto me all you that labor
and heavy laden. If you're labored and you're
heavy laden, you know it. I don't need to twist your arm
and convince you of sin. That's not my job. I'm just presenting
the message. It's already been written. The
book is done. It's closed. So there's no one to hinder their
coming into the camp. There's no one to cry, leave,
you're unclean, go away. They just walk into the camp. walk in to the camp. But such a sight was one sight
of mercy fulfilled, grace full and free. And I ask you why this sight
was so good. To the person who's hungry, it's
obvious. To the person who knows they're
a sinner, the person who's been convicted by the grace of God
to know they're a sinner, This sight is beautiful. Why? Why is this sight so beautiful?
Because it's God's free and abounding grace. The Gospel declares peace
for all and only those who flee from the wrath to come. The Gospel
declares God has done all the work required in the scheme of
salvation. Look at verse 6. For the Lord,
that's where we start. The Lord had made the host of
the Syrians. The Lord cleared them out. What
hinders you from coming to Christ? You're just going to sit there.
You're going to die for sure. But what hinders? The Lord has cleared the path. The work is finished. The Gospel
declares God has done all the work required for the scheme
of salvation. They went in there, there's nobody
to accuse them. Woman, where are thine accusers?
They're all gone. What did Christ say? Neither
do I. Neither do I. The Gospel declares pity on all
who do come for free pardon. and from free pardon and from
sure death. The gospel declares this is what
God has done for his leprous people which we see the need
to not sit until death comes. Bless the Lord our God for his
enabling and eye-opening grace which sounds the alarm in the
heart and mind of each sinner called. The gospel declares the
enemy is already defeated. It's not what you can do. It's
not, well, I've got to make myself savable. What does that mean?
How can you do that? How can a dead man take one step?
We're dead in trespasses and sins. The Gospel declares, come without
money and without price. Simply eat to your heart's content. Feed upon the crucified Redeemer
freely He gives, freely we receive. Oh, we... basically, when you
preach the Gospel, you just get out of the way. I don't need
to call anybody up here. There's nothing up here but one
sinner to a sinner. I just need to get out of the
way. Preach the Gospel. Preach what
the book says. And not try to coerce. Not try
to... I think I see something. We don't... The Spirit comes
and goes. We think we've got a handle.
These preachers think we've got a handle on something. We don't.
We just preach the truth. and leave it alone. And that's
what I think the Lord has been teaching me over these years. It's just
to back off. Back off. Now, if you need encouragement,
I'm here to help in any way I can. But this thing of salvation of
God, they went into the camp and it's done. It's complete.
It's finished. How free is salvation? Oh, you're kind of starting to
sound like an Armenian. Just preaching the Word. Say
what you want to. I don't have to answer to it.
I have to answer to the Lord God. And give an account. And use this human klutzy language
the best I can. And I'm not saying I do it all
the time. We're just sinners. Preaching
to sinners. But the work is done. They went
into the camp. Verse 6, The Lord hath made the
host of sinners to hear a noise. to come upon us. Wherefore, they
arose in verse 7 and they left their tents and their houses,
they left their food, their money, everything. And when the lepers came, verse
8, to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent
and they ate, they gorged themselves, they stuffed themselves. And
that's what I want you to do. Gorge and stuff yourself on the
free mercy and the free, supreme, discriminating grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because there is no other. The Spirit and the Bride say,
come, and we do. We come wantingly, lovingly,
and wholeheartedly. The Scripture says, look and
live. We do finally find that Balm in Gilead. We see that light
where once was all darkness. We touch the hem of His garment.
We taste that the Lord is gracious. We ascend and descend upon Jacob's
ladder, which is the Lord Christ. We hunger for that good and sweet
manna. Verse 8, they went in and they
ate, and they ate, and they ate, and they took the gold, the spoils
of what God has already given us, and they took it and they
hid it. And they went to the next tent.
I don't know if they were fixing something different. The smell,
I don't know that. I just know that I was starving
to death and now I'm full. Look and live. We feast with
the Lamb at the great marriage feast. But grace has response. Grace in the soul has response.
We've seen that response. It comes or flees. It doesn't
sit. It realizes there's something wrong in the heart. By God's
showing us, the light's turned on and now we can see things
a little more clearly. I need to go hear the gospel.
I need to go support the gospel. I need to support men who preach
the gospel. Missionaries who preach the gospel. Take care
of one another. It's a family. That's what we
need to do. So that's a response. We see that when grace comes,
it flees its situation. We saw that it feasts, it dines
upon the things which God has already given us freely. We see
that it stores up. They took it and they hid it.
They stored it up. There's nothing wrong with reading a book and
the Lord gives you two or three promises. Keep them. Take them.
Put them away somewhere. And then when you need them,
find them. I recommend dating them. Dating
them in your book. Circle. Date it. And when you're
going through your perusing and you see, oh, ah, what a joyful
memory that was. That was ten years ago. But oh,
look at what the Lord did. Store them up. But there is another
response here of the grace of God in the soul. And that's verses
nine. And then they said to us, they
said one to another, we do not well. We've got this light and
we're going to put it under a bushel. We've got this gospel and we're
not going to tell our family. We're not going to tell our neighbors.
We're not going to tell our friends. We don't do well if we do that. This day is a day of, I wonder
if that's good tidings, if that's good news. I wonder if that's
the Old Testament version of the gospel. I didn't write it,
it's just right here. It amazes me that this is the
exact wording of the scripture. I couldn't have planned it. I
didn't even look at that when I was preparing it. Last night
I came across it and I just smiled. You bet it's good tidings. Lost,
now I'm saved. Blind, now I see. Starving, and
now I'm full. This day is a day of good tidings. Today if you will hear His voice,
harden not your heart. We could go on and on with scriptures.
and we hold our peace. If we tarry to the morning light,
some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore come that we
may go and tell the king's household." So they came and they called
unto the porter of the city and they told him saying, we came
to the camp of the Syrians and behold, there was no man there.
neither voice of man, but horses tied, asses tied in a tent were
there, and he called the porters, and they told it to the king's
house within." They told it accurately. They basically told what they
had experienced. They didn't read four or five theological
dissertations and then get their words in order. They just told
what they had seen. Go back and tell what great things
God has done for thee." It was a charge. We came to the camp of Syrians
and behold, there was no man there. If you could tell a person,
in this country, in a communist country, a socialist, any country,
if you could walk up to a person and say, I know a gospel, I know
the gospel, where the law, Satan, no man, even yourself, can accuse
you. And if they believed you, where
you don't have to pay any taxes, everything is freely given, how
marvelous is that? We must tell, this is another
response to the grace of God in the soul, we must tell, of
such supreme, marvelous, overjoyed grace. We simply must tell the
good news of the gospel to others. The message is not, you know,
the message is not, smile, God loves you. The message is not,
you just see somebody on the street, God loves you. I declare
to you, and I've heard this many times from other pastors, you
look at the whole book of Acts, and there's a good model for
preaching. And Henry preached a message years ago, it's like
nine points, I've got it in my study Bible, of the method of
God's grace. When you save somebody, it's
just boom, the gospel, it's just boom, boom, boom, it's just beautiful.
And he said, I'm not saying this is the order, he said, but this
is how the order in the scripture is. But the love of God, the
actual phraseology, the love of God is not even in there. Not once. But the concept and
precept and doctrine is. So to just stand up like these
people are saying, no wonder they sit in their chair and they
don't have to move. Because I've been told a lie
my whole life. God loves me. Christ died for everybody. I've
got a free will. What do I need to go for? I don't
need to move anywhere. I'm not dying. Like Bo Barnard
said, the greatest place to hide from God is in the church. And
that's true. We must tell the good news of
Christ and Him crucified. Anybody and everybody. We sing. We haven't in a while, but we
sing a hymn In our hymnals here, I will tell the wondrous story,
how my lost estate to save. In his boundless love and mercy,
he ransomed, he ransomed, freely gave. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer. With his blood, he purchased
me. On the cross, he sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. We sing another one. I love to tell the story of unseen
things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story because I know it's true. It satisfies
my longings as nothing else can do. I love to tell the story,
more wonderful it seems. than all the golden fancies of
all our golden dreams. I love to tell the story. It
did so much for me. And that is just the reason I
tell it now to thee. I love to tell the story. It
is pleasant to repeat what seems each time I tell it more wonderfully
sweet. I love to tell the story for
some have never heard the message of salvation from God's own holy
word. I love to tell the story for
those who know it best. seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory I
sing the new, new song, it will be the old, old story that I
have loved so long. I was a wandering sheep. I did
not love the fold. But now, now, we love the fold. Oh, to see our mothers, our fathers,
our sons, daughters, Neighbors and friends become seized by
Almighty Sovereign Grace. Let us pray to this end, brethren,
and as always, to God be the glory. May He add a blessing
to this Word, prick our hearts, and yet may we see how free the
food is, because Christ Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Bruce, would you close us, please?